August 19, 2026
Dear Friends,
This week, 1 young man prayed with me according to the pattern of Luke 18:13 & Romans 10:9.
I attended a wedding this weekend, something that professors often do, so I did not hold the webinars. Even Jesus attended occasional weddings.
But one searching young man came over for lunch. He wrote:
Subject: Jesus Resurrection disbelief
Hey Dr. James, Going out on a whim to see if you receive this with all of your other busy emails. I am 19 years old and live in the Houston area and currently having a hard time believing in the resurrection of Jesus. I grew up with my faith and still currently am a Christian but I definitely have had more and more challenging internal questions as I’m getting older trying to find my own personal reasons as to why I still believe. I would love any time you have available to offer to discuss as I watch your YouTube and am continuing to seek. Thank you for what you do. Sincerely, ________
Brandon invited him to drive the 25 miles to my home for lunch. When he showed up, I did not realize he had been invited to have his questions answered. Brandon had alerted me, but I forgot. I sat with him for about 10 minutes, and then sat with some other visitors. At the end of lunch, he stayed and helped clean up. Then, when I sat in the kitchen to talk further with some inquisitive students, I mentioned to him that he could stay if he liked. Then he said he had some questions for me and reminded me that he had been scheduled through Brandon. So I proceeded to take him through the gospel message and the resurrection. Upon which he readily prayed with me. He seemed to want to make the faith his own rather than something that he had just grown up in. He had some questions about miracles and why they do not seem to happen anymore. Just a few days earlier, I had crunched the numbers for another inquirer, so I could show him the precise numbers:
- There are 120 Bible miracles over 4,100 years = one miracle every 34 years over the time period of the Bible’s 4000 year of Old Testament writing plus 100 years of New Testament writing.
- The Gospels contain at least 35 distinct miracles if parallel accounts are counted only once. 120 − 35 = 85 miracles spread over the remaining 4100 − 3.5 ≈ 4096 years = one miracle every 48 years if we negate the time when Jesus walks the Earth.
- Bible miracles are typically signs accompanying major acts of revelation. Most occur in three brief periods:
- Moses & Joshua (~70 years combined ministry)
- Elijah & Elisha (~60 years combined ministry)
- Jesus & the apostles (~35 years combined ministry)
- Excluding those three periods above, the Bible only reports ~15 miracles over 4000 years ≈ one miracle every 270 years.
So the Bible lists far fewer miracles than you might think. There are probably far more miracles happening today than we deserve to see, if judged solely by comparison with the biblical testimony.
I told this young man, at 19 years old, that he hadn’t lived long enough to claim he should have seen a miracle. He seemed content with that. And I answered a few other questions for him, then prayed for him and sent him on his way under the care of Dr. Jonathan McLatchy.
Luke 15:5–7
“ ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
God bless,
Dr. James Tour
